when he gets paid. there it goes again, redistribution. or when some poor kid gets to enlist in head start -- just give me a break here. the only redistribution romney likes is when takes over a company, dumps the workers, widens the profit margins, flips it, and walks off with the proceeds. now, that's a predistribution he can get excited about. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. >> good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 48 days until the 2012 election. the undercover romney fund-raiser video has members soft republican establishment calling for an intervention. tonight, the new portions of the tape that could force mitt to take them up on the offer. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> it's unfortunate when something gets misinterpreted like this or is taken out of context. >> the romney campaign says their unedited tape is being mischaracterized. meanwhile, karl rove, scott brown, and republicans around the country are completely freaking out.

tonight, dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz on the republican chaos. the romney camp wants to talk redistribution? >> the president saying he likes redistribution. i disagree. >> tonight, a lesson on upwards redistribution with dean baker. plus, ohio senator sherrod brown, on the 47% fallout in ohio. and could paul ryan actually lose two elections, in one night? i'll ask ryan's congressional opponent if the candidate stands a chance in janesville. >> president obama's policies are feverishly putting more people in the column of takers than makers. >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. mitt romney cannot escape his 47% comment and the undercover tape exposing it. many republicans are running for cover after these comments set off a chain reaction in the republican party. >> well, there are 47% of the

people who will vote for the president, no matter what. all right? there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent on him, who believe that they are victims. who believe that government has a responsibility to care to them. who believe that they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. >> i mean, how do you get away from that? the comments are what they are. the comments are taking on a life of their own. here's how bad it's getting. last night the romney campaign highlighted a video from a denver fox affiliate entitled "ann romney says mitt doesn't disdain the poor." they pulled the video from their own official youtube account, but the content is still online. >> he wasn't expressing any disdain for people who are poor or who are on entitlement programs at this point? >> oh, absolutely not. absolutely not. totally not so. >> it's not a great week when the candidate's wife has to insist her husband doesn't have disdain for the poor.

the 47% comments, what are they? well, they are so toxic, politically vulnerable republicans, basically, they're running scared. take a look at these two headlines from two separate websites. from fox news, there was this headline. governor susanna martinez distanced herself from romney's 47% comment. and then there was this headline from "the washington post." nevada senator dean heller distances himself from mitt romney. embattled senator scott brown would not answer two direct questions from reporters about whether he still even supports mitt romney. what did he do? well, he relies on a statement of o support from a spokeswoman. even romney's running mate is throwing the candidate under the bus. paul ryan said, romney was obviously inarticulate and told a las vegas television station, "i think he would have said it differently." senate gop leaders beat a hasty retreat before answering 47% question from reporters today. >> until those problems are addressed and solved, starting with jobs and spending.

>> thank you very much. >> 47%! >> i mean, let's get out of here before they ask if some republicans are running away, and others are basically punching back. senator lindsey graham of south carolina criticized romney's campaign schedule this week. "he needs to be talking about the economy and not in utah. he's not going to get beat because of money. he ought to be running in ohio and florida like he's running for governor and running in virginia like he's running for sheriff." good idea, but that's just not mitt. romney's super pac founder karl rove wasn't so crazy about the 47% comment either. his comment was, "a lot of people who get a social security check paid into that their entire lives and they're plenty wired up about the deficit. and there's lots of people

getting an unemployment check who would love to have a job. so you've got to be careful about that number." clearly, it's having an impact. and conservative columnist peggy noonan wrote, "it's time to admit the romney campaign is an incompetent one. an intervention is in order. mitt, this isn't working." "the new york times" reported on a gloomy and openly frustrated mood aboard the romney plane. one staffer said the campaign was turning into a vulgar, unprintable, phrase. these republicans, they know how devastating mitt romney's comments have been. the comments look even worse after watching a 1962 video, featuring mitt romney's mother talking about her husband when she was running for governor of michigan. >> there are those who say that since he's a man of considerable means, he really doesn't care about people. >> you know, we've only owned our home for the last four years. he was a refugee from mexico. he was on relief, welfare relief

for the first years of his life. but this great country gave him opportunities. >> this photo shows mitt romney watching the video of his mother. it was taken by mitt romney's personal assistant. you have to wonder if his story, her story, has really sank in at all with mitt romney? it's a story that a lot of americans have. you never know who among us has been affected by government assistance at some time in their lives. >> personal note here. a lot of americans, of all incomes with stripes have struggled the last few years and the risk for governor romney is that it is insulting to them as a kid. when i was a kid, my family was on food stamps for a few years ago when my dad got sick. my father was actually pretty embarrassed about the whole thing, but in the end, my mother was grateful she was able to feed her kids. >> no doubt there are a lot of americans with the same story. the 47% comments are not going to help mitt romney's popularity. he's already showing a negative favorability rating in the latest pew poll. this was taken before the hidden video was released. only 45% of americans view mitt romney favorably. in case romney can't do the math, that's less than 47%. get your cell phones out.

i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will the entire republican party pay a price for mitt romney's 47% remarks? text "a" for yes and "b" for no to 622639. or you can go to ed.msnbc.com, and we'll bring you the results later on the show. one more thing, it seems to me republicans out on the campaign trail are going back into their districts. they'll be asked by constituents about the 47% remark. what does that mean? what do you think? you know, i kind of get a government check every now and then. my dad was unemployed, and now he's back in the workforce. how are they going to answer this? mitt romney has put a lot of candidates in an untenable position when it comes to answering the direct questions about the economy and obligations and priorities and a social safety net that that country has had for generations, because we have believed in it.

there's never been a march on washington to get rid of anything that mitt romney wants to privatize. that's the bottom line. he's out of touch. joining me now is congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz of florida, chair of the democratic national committee. congresswoman, great to have you with us tonight. >> thank you, ed, great to be with you. >> i get this feeling that democrats want the election tomorrow. that this is just going too good. that every time romney opens up his mouth, he sticks his foot in it. are democrats are going to make this comments a focus of the next two months? >> well, ed, what these comments are, and when i heard and saw them, i really just felt incredible disappointment. i mean, disappointment in that you have a candidate for president of the united states of america, from one of our two major parties, who essentially, very easily and dismissivedismissively, wrote off half the country. what about the 20 million senior citizen who don't pay income

taxes? are they victims? what about our veterans? what about middle class, hard-working families? it's just -- it's just incredibly disappointing. and i'll tell you, just a quick story. i was home in my district this morning, and i was in a supermarket. and i was ordering lunch. and the woman on the other side of the counter recognized me. and she said, oh, my gosh, she said, what that man said -- she said, i'm not a victim. i mean, this is how deeply that has sunk in. that's what i think the problem is. >> i think it is sinking in. and republicans in senate and house races, as i said just a moment ago, are going to have to go home and answer to this. what do they think about this? this is putting them in a real tough spot. do you really think that this is going to affect races? is this a real opening for the democrats? >> you know, it's not really surprising that these republican candidates, for the senate and for congress, all across the country, are running as fast as they can away from mitt romney.

i mean, he's really, i think, made himself kind of radioactive. and you know, we've got to remember that these candidates, you know, dean heller, the senator from nevada who's running for re-election, and linda mcmahon in connecticut and scott brown in massachusetts, they can say what they want, but the policies they've embraced are what's important. >> you know what i find amazing? where's the governor of new jersey, who loves television cameras? where are the surrogates -- >> not rushing to mitt romney's defense, is he? >> absolutely. and that's a key point here. there's nobody rushing to his defense, other than rush limbaugh. now, this story has brought, i think, attention back to mitt romney's tax returns. here's what harry reid said today. >> definitely. >> for all we know, mitt romney could be one of those who paid no federal income tax. thousands of families make more than $1 million, pay nothing in federal income taxes each year. is mitt romney among those? we'll never know since he refuses to release his tax returns for the years before he

was running for president. >> do you think that this renews the pressure for romney to release more returns? or is just harry reid having fun with this whole thing? >> no, i agree with harry reid. i mean, we've got a candidate for president, mitt romney, writing off half the country, and calling them victims and dependent on government, because supposedly, they don't pay income taxes. well, they pay state and local taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes, and mitt romney, who has invested overseas in the cayman islands and has money in swiss bank accounts, and in bermuda, and won't release anything more than a year and a partial year of his tax return, has the nerve to call half of america victims? it's -- >> i think another key point in all of this, the man who hosted that fund-raiser back in may in boca raton has apologized to mitt romney, and it's now out there, of course, everyone was told that this was for their consumption and not for the media. i mean, what you say behind closed doors is really who you are. >> well, i think that's exactly.

and what president obama said last night and i know what i've said before is, you know, even when you don't get the support of everyone, you know, 47% of americans didn't vote for president obama. but on election night, he said he was the president of everyone and was going to do his best and work hard to represent everyone in america. and apparently mitt romney doesn't feel the same way. and the truth was said behind closed doors in that videotape. >> all right. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz of florida here on "the ed show" tonight. thanks for joining us. be sure to share your thoughts on twitter and on ed show and on facebook. we always want to know what you think. coming up, new insight into mitt romney's foreign policy screwup. find out what that fund-raiser tape reveals about romney's real motives. we'll be right back. stay with us.

his wealthy donors that he would take advantage of a foreign policy crisis.

we'll look at his botched response to the libya crisis, next. and later, senator sherrod brown of ohio joins me to discuss how ohio voters are reacting to mitt romney's 47% comments and so much more. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using #edshow. we're coming right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." there's a crucial section of the romney fund-raiser video that we need to point out now. there's something romney told a wealthy supporter back in may, actually plays directly into a deadly attack on the u.s.

embassy in libya last week. pay attention to this one. it connects. one of the donors asked romney about ronald reagan and the iran hostage crisis during the carter administration. some analysts think that the crisis helped reagan beat president carter. so the donor asked romney how he would demonstrate similar strength. here's romney's answer. >> in the jimmy carter election, the fact that we had hostages in -- in iran, i mean, that was all we talked about. and we had the two helicopters crash in the desert. i mean, that's -- that was -- that was the focus. and so him solving that made all the difference in the world. i'm afraid today if you simply got iran to agree to stand down on their nuclear weapons, they'd go, you know hold on. and if something of that nature presents itself, i will work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity. >> take advantage of an opportunity. mitt romney said that he would take advantage of the opportunity if a foreign crisis came along. on september 11th, 2012, just

last week, the opportunity did come along. this timeline, my friends, is key. at 6:17 a.m. eastern time, the cairo embassy put out a statement to try to calm a threatening crowd of demonstrators. at noon, they reiterated the statement as the crowds grew and demonstrators breached the walls of the compound. around 7:00, there are reports of shooting and smoke rising at the consulate in benghazi, 800 miles away. at 7:51 p.m., reuters reports at least one american was dead at our consulate in benghazi. we now know the romney campaign was discussing the events unfolding in the middle east throughout the day. as governor romney flew from nevada to florida, his top foreign policy and political advisers held a conference call to discuss what they would say about the crisis. well, when romney landed, they showed him a statement and he approved it. it said, i'm outraged by the

attacks on american diplomatic missions in libya and egypt and by the death of an american consulate worker in benghazi. it's disgraceful that the obama administration's first response was not to condemn the attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks. the campaign did exactly what mitt romney promised his high-dollar donors he would do in may. he attempted to capitalize on a foreign crisis. look at the statement again. "it's disgraceful that the obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks." it is a lie. the obama administration didn't respond to the actual attacks on the embassies until the next day. the romney campaign took a very dangerous and difficult foreign

crisis and attempted to make people believe that president obama was a terrorist sympathizer. let's turn to john soels, chairman of votevets.org, and sam stein, political reporter for the "huffington post." gentleman, great to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> john, why do you think this is worse for mitt romney than his comments about the 47%? >> well, i think the 47% is pretty bad, especially when we have a lot of national guard and reserve soldiers who are on things like food stamps. but i certainly think it's terrible in regards to a lot of the debate we had about the killing of osama bin laden. i mean, the president's talked about the hard decision he made and, you know, you and i have talked about it both on air before and on your radio show, that if the bin laden raid had gone bad, obviously, governor romney would have used it against barack obama. so he has every right to talk about it. and i also think it's terrible right now with all of our efforts in afghanistan, this type of anti-islamic rhetoric endangers the lives of our

troops. we've got a lot of killings in afghanistan right now from green-on-blue attacks, afghan troops killing ours. so we don't need to incite violence against our men and women, but it's mostly just wrong. and i think it goes to the heart oaf what the jobs bill is in the senate. if troops get killed in combat, it's good for mitt romney and he's going to use that to his advantage politically to try to say the president's not doing a good job, and it's just terrible to use the death of our public servants and our military for political game. >> sam, doesn't just this flat-out underscore and prove that the romney campaign is looking for any political opening they can find? i mean, he tells this to people behind closed doors. what does the fund-raiser tell us about the real mitt romney? >> well, you know, the campaign was saying that he was talking about using a situation like that, take advantage of it for the purpose of cracking down on iran even harder.

but the problem they run into is that his immediate response to the attacks in libya and the demonstrations in cairo was hyperpoliticized, and he obviously got in a lot of trouble for that. he got a lot of blowback for it. and i think gets to an issue that's sort of a broader issue, you know, which is what kind of foreign policy do we want to have from our chief executive, from the commander in chief. is it one that's sort of reactionary, a knee-jerk reactionary politicized, or is it standing back and examining a situation and not injecting politics into it immediately? >> well, that's it. what does it say about mitt romney's political instincts that he can't gauge exactly what his comments are going to mean. he just can't fly ahead of the aircraft, it seems like, politically, and understand what kind of an impact his comments are going to have. how can americans trust him? >> first of all, i think you're right. i would disagree with john. i don't think romney wants american -- wants to take advantage of american deaths. i do think that mitt romney is incredibly insecure about his standing on foreign policy and

feels like in order to overcome that, he has to show this machismo. he wants to increase naval forces. he wanted to use stimulus fund for armorment improvement. that i think stems back to 2008, and let's remember this, in 2008, that primary, he was badgered routinely by john mccain for being weak on foreign policy and that's primarily how he lost that primary election. >> and jon soltz, doesn't this disqualify mitt romney in many regards when it comes to foreign policy, with people who wear the uniform? can't say see through this? >> i mean, there's a lot of issues we look at. one is his budget cuts are veterans benefits by 13%. but if you're out in the field in afghanistan right now and there's been 51 u.s. troops killed by soldiers this year and you've got a video of a guy running for president saying, well, if things go bad in afghanistan or things go back like what happened to jimmy carter when we had two

helicopters crash, you know, you're thinking, wow, does this guy really want us to be safe right now? or if things go bad and u.s. troops continue to get killed, is that just political fodder for his campaign? i don't think anybody in the field who hears that comment will feel good about this guy being commander in chief. what about our benefits and what about the fact he actually has our back? this is a guy who's out of touch with what our troops face in combat. and i certainly interpret those statements that he doesn't, you know, he doesn't care if we're successful. he certainly, you know, if we're getting killed, he thinks it's political fodder for him. and i don't know how he gets out of that. >> you know win understand the 47% remark about him not understanding the middle class. they haven't been able to understand the middle class since the day that they went in front of a camera. and the republican party has got an innate problem when it comes to that right now. but to accuse the president of the united states of sympathizing with attackers who have killed american personnel overseas, it is as low as it gets for the republican party.

>> and yet, he's struggled because of it. look at any of the polls in the wake of what happened. they, by and large, the public has soured on -- >> but nobody's calling him out on it. you know, where are some of these senators who are sitting on foreign relations, that they don't even call romney out for something like this? i mean, that is so below the belt and beyond the pale. great to have you with us. say it again? >> thanks, ed. i would tell you that governor romney's statement emboldened the attacks on u.s. troops. i mean, if you're sitting in -- look, i was an embedded adviser last year surrounded by 3,000 muslim troops in iraq. i don't need a presidential candidate out there validates anti-islam talk, because i have to work with these guys every day. especially in islam where they're getting killed. his statement verged on something very dangerous for our troops. >> jon stoltz and sam stein, great to have you with us. coming up, mitt romney isn't the only one dividing america between makers and takers. his running mate, paul ryan.

i'm going to tell you something, this guy's an expert at that. i'll talk to democratic candidate challenging ryan for his house seat in wisconsin. and over the last 30 years the rich have only gotten rich in this country. well, mitt romney's comments about the 47% resonate with the mega-wealthy? dean baker will join me.

welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. you know, there's a chance we

could witness political history on november 6th. we could watch a candidate become a two-time loser in one night. congressman paul ryan will appear on the ballot twice in the state of wisconsin's first district, as mitt romney's vice presidential running mate and as a candidate for re-election in the house of representatives. two-time loser, could it happen? if romney fails to get elected and ryan is edged out in wisconsin, i mean, come on, the congressman could be one looking for government assistance, don't you think? in all seriousness, statements like these aren't helping his chances in the national election. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter. there are 47% what are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them. who believe that they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. that it's an entitlement.

and government should give it to them. and they will vote for this president no matter what. my job is not to worry about those people, and i'll never convince them that they should. they should take responsibility for their lives. >> ryan was quick to call the comments dangerous. >> we risk hitting a tipping point in our society, where we have more takers than makers in society. where we will have turned our safety net into a hammock, which drains people of their will and incentive to make the most of their lives. president obama's policies are feverishly putting more people into the column of being takers than makers. being more dependent. >> he may have been articulate, but even though the words are different, the idea is the same. ryan's district has known hardship and has struggled with high unemployment. remember janesville, the plant? if he keeps playing to the makers on the national scene, there's a chance that paul ryan could be voted out by the so-called takers in his own backyard. his opponent joins me tonight.

joining me now is rob zerband, the democratic candidate challenging paul ryan for that congressional seat. rob, good to have you with us tonight. i'm curious, every candidate is confident. every candidate hears good things. but what is your instinct on how the comment of 47% and the entitlement, and all of the things that have surrounded this tape, how is this going to play in ryan's district? >> ed, what i'm hearing on the ground in the first congressional district is people are quite resentful of these comments, and particularly with the janesville gm plant lie that paul ryan told during the convention speech, these kind of comments are feeding the fire of resentment for the congressman, and for him being at the top of the ticket and also on this congressional seat, running two races at the same time. and so i'm pretty confident that people are not only going to reject paul ryan and mitt romney on the top of the ticket, but also reject him in the congressional race as well.

>> now, you've benefited from government programs. tell us about that. and do you consider yourself a taker? >> not at all, ed. in fact, i consider myself a person who lived the american dream. i was a guy who, like you said, i benefited from programs like government cheese as a child. i was only able to get an education because of pell grants and stafford loans, and i was able to go on and live my version of the american dream, started my own business, employed people, creating wages and benefits. so i was a job creator, but i was only able to do that because these programs were there for me when i needed them. and i understand intimately why these programs help everyone have economic opportunity. and i believe that's the american dream. it shouldn't just be reserved for people who are wealthy and well connected. >> so everything that romney and ryan, ryan is who you're running against, obviously, in the congressional district, but everything these two gentleman stand for, you're the opposite and you've been successful. >> absolutely. and whether or not, you know, it's mitt romney is the one

who's laying out the plan with his words, paul ryan's the one who's implementing the plan with his budget. calling for privatizing medicare, calling for the slashing of pell grants and stafford loans and also food assistance programs. >> do democrats hurt small business? i don't think there's anybody out there that could speak to this better than you can. i mean, you were a guy who had some help early in life, and you were a risktaker. are the democrats friendly to small business? >> absolutely. i knew exactly the things that were an impediment to hurdles i had to overcome to start a business. and one of those things was not having a complete answer to medicare, or to health care in this country. and you know, while paul ryan writes the kill medicare plan, i stand for medicare for all, because i understand as a small business owner how this can be an economic engine for small entrepreneurs, and getting the economic issue of small business owners going again. >> are you going to get a debate with this guy? i understand you've started a petition to get ryan to come

back to wisconsin to debate you, but he probably this is he has better things to do. >> we've had over 700,000 sign the petition to ask paul ryan to come back to the district and to debate me. so the grassroots organizers are logging on to my website at robzerban.com and they're signing the petition and anyone can go on there and say, please come back to the district and debate rob zerban. people understand this is an important part of their democracy and want to have their questions answered about why paul ryan is trying to make medicare a voucher program. >> you're a small business guy who has made it. you're the american dream. it's going to be interesting. i hope he comes can back and debates you. i think he's afraid of you. >> i'm not -- i wouldn't be -- i think that's true, ed, because we've seen him spend $2 million on his advertising, this time around, which he's never done. if his polling numbers are showing what my polling numbers are, which show i'm only

currently trailing by eight percentage points with about 11% of the people undecided, this is going to be a real nail biter at the end and i think we'll be able to squeak it out and win i >> rob zerban, thanks so much for joining us. a lot more coming up, stay with us. >> the right course for america is to create growth, create wealth, not redistribute wealth. >> up next, the romney's camp ridiculous push on redistribution. >> i went back to china to buy a factory there. >> i think mitt romney's chinese factory story says a lot about his view of workers. i'll explain, ahead. and mitt romney's disaster is shaking up every senate race in the nation. senator sherrod brown tells us how those 47% comments are playing in ohio.

welcome back to "the ed show." for the last 30 years, the rich

have gotten their way. taxes are low, profits are high, yet as mitt romney tells it, the rich are being held back by freeloaders. >> well, there are 47% of people who will vote for the president, no matter what. there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. >> the romney campaign is now in crisis mode. today the republican nominee attacked the president over comments he made 14 years ago. >> just a tape came out a couple of days ago with the president saying, yes, he believes in redistribution. i don't! i believe the way to lift people and to help people have higher incomes is not to take from some and give to others, but to create wealth for all of us. >> romney based his remarks on comments then state senator barack obama made in 1998. talking about how to make government more efficient.

"the new york times" points out the political maneuvering, "mr. romney and mr. ryan are using redistribution as shorthand to suggest that mr. obama's principal goal is to soak the rich so that money will keep flowing for social program handouts to the lazy and undeserving." and well-to-do romney supporters, well, they believe it. one woman attending a romney fund-raiser over the summer articulated her frustration to the "los angeles times." "but my college kid, the babysitters, the nail ladies, everybody who's got the right to vote, they don't understand what's going on. i just think that your lower income, one, you're not as educated, two, they don't understand how it works, they don't understand how the systems work, they don't understands the impact." but things have gotten better for the rich. wall street profits, soaring through the roof. productivity has surged. yet wages remain stagnant, as

this chart from mother jones points out. if the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000. today, "forbes" reported that the net wealth of the richest americans grew by 13% in the past year. that's right, in the past year, since president obama's been in office. the gap between the very rich and the merely rich increased and helped drive up the average net worth of "forbes" 400 members to an all-time record $4.2 billion. the rich are getting richer and the middle class are getting left behind. yet america's wealthy, they want more of the pie. and they're all too willing to accuse president obama of trying to take their money and to take it away. let's turn to dean baker, the center for economic and policy research and author of the end of loser liberalism. i don't know if i like that

title, but i sure like your work. great to have you. >> the other part of that is making markets progressive. >> there you go. thank you, dean. great to have you with us tonight. why do the rich believe that they've gotten some kind of a raw deal under this president? >> well, you know, i think in their view, they have this idea that, look, they're really wealthy, and just because they worked hard and they're smart and in many cases, that may well be true, but they also had a lot of things going for them like government policy that redistributed income upwards. and their view is anything that you know, president obama or anyone, i should say, for that matter does to try to say, okay, you guys did well, what about the rest of us, that that's somehow stealing from them. that's really the way they talk. and i think if you look at what governor romney was -- said at the videotape, that's pretty much the attitude he was conveying. >> now, you've said that the

upward redistribution of the last three decades did not just happen. i mean, it was engineered, it was legislated, and it was laid out. explain that. >> well, there's a whole set of policies, many which you and your listeners are quite familiar with. trade is a very visible one. you've had trade policies that were quite explicitly designed to put u.s. manufacturing workers in direct competition with the lowest paid workers anywhere in the world. and the predicted and actual result of that is to drive down the wages of u.s. manufacturing workers. that's not a surprise. and that's what we've seen. we've lost millions of jobs from manufacturing. we've added anti-union legislation, anti-union practices. you know, we just had a chicago teachers' strike, which seems to have been settled on reasonably good terms.

>> it's just anti-worker. it's almost as if the wage earners are the enemy and they want to concentrate the wealth. i mean, we have a progressive tax system in this country. we have a social safety net. they want to privatize that. mitt romney vows to preserve both of them. how can he do it? i mean, isn't that redistribution? >> it is redistribution. and, again, part of this story, when we look at, most of us, if we look at the romney/ryan plan to privatize medicare, we're thinking, what's going to do to people on medicare? but the flip side of the story is, you have people making money on that. so in the health care industry, of course, it's a very large, lucrative industry. i should mention private equity is very big in it these days. people are making lots of money on health care. so on the one hand, we're concerned that people won't be able to count on decent care in their older years, but the other side, you have people who are looking to make lots of money in that. >> sure. and the here's the other thing, only 20% of americans believe the poor pay too little in income tax.

why does the romney campaign, do you think, believe that casting them as a bunch of freeloaders and takers is a good strategy? >> you know, it's hard to understand. i mean, i can't really speak to the politics. it seems very strange, but we know the realities of the policy. the poor, these are people who are working. they don't make a lot of money, but you go, here's someone making the minimum wage, $9, $10 an hour, often supporting a kid, and we want them to pay taxes? i don't know what their thinking is. coming up, mitt romney's comments on the 47% could mean good news for democrats running for senate. i'll talk with ohio senator sherrod brown. how his constituents are reacting. that's next. stay with us.

still to come, mitt romney's caught-on-tape comments could have a big affect on some key senate races. senator sherrod brown of ohio will weigh in on his race. you can listen to me on sirius xm radio channel 127 monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m.

the radio show, "the ed schultz show," also heard on progressive talk stations around the country. you can follow me on twitter @edshow and like "the ed show" on facebook. we're right back. and need to get my car fix? progressive makes it easy, because we give you choices. you can pick where to get your car fixed, we can cut you a check, or, at our service center, we take care of everything for you. [ relaxing music playing ] [ chuckles ] -whew, so many choices. -take your time. -the service center. -okay. giving you choices -- now, that's progressive. call or click today.

republican party pay a price for mitt romney's 47% remarks? 96% of you say yes, 4% of you say no. coming up, senate races are looking better for democrats. and we'll ask ohio senator sherrod brown what he thinks of romney's 47%'s remarks and also what's china doing to the automobile industry. welcome back to "the ed

welcome back to "the ed show." in the big finish tonight, from president obama wins re-election, the last thing he's going to need is for the republicans to take over control of the senate. but lately, the outlook is seeming to be a lot better for democrats. is there this rejection of republicans across the country in their lack of connection to the middle class? even before the effects of romney's 47% remarks have sunk in, many key races are moving in the direction of the democrats in an increasing the likelihood that they could hold the majority in the senate. it would be amazing. in virginia, former governor tim kaine is surging in his run against former senator george allen, for that open senate seat. kaine is up seven points in the

latest poll. in massachusetts, momentum seems to be with elizabeth warren in her bid to defeat incumbent republican senator scott brown. warren is up five points in the latest poll. and in wisconsin, congresswoman tammy baldwin is gaining ground in a tough senate race against former governor tommy thompson, who is a mainstay with republicans. in one recent poll, it's a tie. in another poll, she leads thompson by nine points. it also helps when strong democratic incumbent senators are holding their own. and no one's holding their own better right now than ohio senator, sherrod brown, who joins us tonight. and i say that because it is an unprecedented amount of money that is being spent to defeat this man in the senate. it is up to $18 million. senator, good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be back. >> i'm going to -- i don't know if this is the kiss of death, but i think that you are the modern day ted kennedy that they just can't stand.

you have been a stallworth supporter of the middle class and for labor, and ohio's economy is turning around because of the automobile industry. why are they throwing so much money at you? we all know that karl rove wants ohio. why are they coming after you? >> well, we figure -- we don't know, because they don't disclose this money, but we figure it's wall street, because my legislation to break up the six largest banks, we figure sst oil companies, because i helped to lead the charge to take away their tax breaks, and we figure it's corporations and their chinese allies who outsource jobs to china, because my china currency bill. that just makes grassroots efforts that much more important, because they're spending these huge numbers and dollars against an outspoken progressive. >> i have this theory about ohio's economy. obviously, it was helped by the automobile loan. china is subsidizing its auto workers. i mean, this is a direct attempt to undermine what is happening with the economy in your state, as one in eight jobs are affected by the automobile

industry. president obama has taken action and filed suit with the wto on this. does this help you in your race? what is happening with china and why are they coming after the automobile industry in your opinion? >> well, we saw ten years of manufacturing job loss in this country. 60,000 plants closed between 2000 and 2010. 5 million jobs lost. we've gained jobs over the last two years. partly the auto rescue, partly we've enforced trade laws. there's a new steel mill in youngstown. there are few tire jobs in fennely, there are new steel jobs in lorraine and cleveland and aluminum jobs in keith, and in sidney, ohio, and it's all the built around -- we believe you grow the economy by the middle class out, not this whole idea of tax cuts for the rich and trickle-down. and that's the secret -- not a secret, that's the strategy of the obama administration to govern and to campaign. >> well, i don't think that the romney campaign has a clue about what china is doing to ohio's economy and what affect that is

going to have in the move by president obama and the administration clearly is the right thing to do and he's got a record of doing it and you have been there with him. i want to ask you, this is actually the first time i've had a clans to visit with you since the infamous 47% comment was caught on tape by mitt romney. how's this going to play in ohio? >> i think it just contributes to the narrative that they're top-down, the whole idea of trickle-down economics, and we build out from the middle class. and that's why organizing is so important in this campaign. i want to urge viewers as i have in the past and you've helped me with to come to sherrodbrown.com. help us build this middle class effort to fight back. >> but this 47% comment that mitt romney made. he's actually, and we did this last night, he's actually attacking his base, those white workers out there that are low information. i mean, how is this going to play in ohio? i mean, he insulted a good portion of americans. >> most ohioans get up -- exactly right.

it's an insult to even think you should govern a company where you have no respect for half the population. but ohio's school of working class voters, some went to community college, many graduated only from high school, obviously, many are more educated than that, but workers wake up every day and they make glass, they manufacture glass in zanesville, or they make tanks in lima or they're building, doing jobs in mansfield or toledo and they fight and work every day. and that's an insult to all of them. >> senator from ohio, sherrod and thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. it was a really big day in politics today, and in news about politics today. including for the first time in